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Information Team Managers should know on a variety of topics.
Instant Challenges
To help teams learn basic
structure concepts find Instant Challenges that involve building
structures. You can do a web search and find some challenges.
Destination ImagiNation®
sells CD's of practice Instant Challenges at
ShopDI.
There are usually Instant Challenges that involve building towers or
bridges on each of these CD's. You can also create your own building
instant challenges.
Structure Tester, Weights and Weight Placement
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A structure tester is needed to
test structures. It is not interference for the Team Manager to
construct or to have constructed the structure tester. Information
on constructing a structure tester is available here:
How To Build a
Tester. If you are unable to build a Tester then check with your
Regional Director. They may have an extra tester that you can borrow for
testing. They may also be able to refer you to structure team managers
who have a tester you can borrow or have access to. Please do not let
your team come to tournament without having practiced with a structure tester
at least once.
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At tournament, structures are tested using Olympic
style weights. These
are metal weights that have a 2" diameter hole. Teams that have worked structure for many years typically
acquire their own weights. It can be difficult for new teams to come up
with enough Olympic style weights to test their structure. One
suggestion is to talk to the coaches at a local junior high or high school and
ask if you can borrow weights. If they will not let you borrow the
weights then they might allow the team to bring their structure tester to the
school weight room and test the structures in the weight room. Your
regional director might be able to direct you to seasoned structure team
managers who have weights you can use.
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Olympic Style weights - 45#, 35#, 25#, 10#,
5#
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Team Managers hands (on right)
at 3:00 and 9:00 positions
(not a good position for TM hands) |
Team Managers hands (on right)
at 7:00 and 4:00 positions
(good position for TM hands) |
Cost saving ideas
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Initially, teams may want to visit
local Hobby Shops to purchase a variety of woods to experiment, test and build
with. A trip to home improvement centers can also expose them to different
woods. Once the team has decided what type and sizes of wood they wish to
use it is generally cheaper to purchase from mail order suppliers.
Check out the Links page for links to various on-line suppliers of wood.
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Teams using single edge razors should consider buying bulk razor blades. At
most home improvement centers a box of ten razors cost $3.00 and a box of one
hundred (100) razors cost $6.00.
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Teams using CA glue can buy a one ounce bottle of de-bonder (recommended for
any teams using CA Glues) for around $3.00. You can buy a quart of acetone
(same product) for from $6.00 to $7.00
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For scales you can check with your Junior
High or High School Tech departments and see if they have gram scales that the
team can borrow. Another source is to check with your local police
department (many schools have site reps that you could contact) and see if they
have confiscated gram scales that they could let the team use or have.
Small battery operated pocket size gram scales can also be purchased on ebay for
as low as $1.00 although you may pay $15 or more for shipping.
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